Chemistry
Main article: EthanolAlcohol is a general term for any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group (-O H) is bound to a carbon atom, which in turn may be bound to other carbon atoms and further hydrogens. Alcohols other than ethanol (such as propylene glycol and the sugar alcohols) appear in food and beverages. Methanol (one carbon), the propanols (three carbons giving two isomers), and the butanols (four carbons, four isomers) are all commonly found alcohols — these three toxic alcohols should never be consumed in any form.
Ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages (although novelty inebriating drinks have been made from alternate alcohols such as 2-Methyl-2-butanol). When produced for use in a beverage, ethanol is always produced by means of fermentation, i.e., the metabolism of carbohydrates by certain species of yeast in the absence of oxygen.
Read more about this topic: Alcohol Consumption
Famous quotes containing the word chemistry:
“The chemistry of dissatisfaction is as the chemistry of some marvelously potent tar. In it are the building stones of explosives, stimulants, poisons, opiates, perfumes and stenches.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“For me chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world.... I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: “I will understand this, too, I will understand everything.””
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)